At what age did you start singing? As long as I can remember. I was always putting on my mom’s costumes (who is a Russian pop singer of the late 80′s-90′s named Anka) and singing. At first thought I was on a career path of a classical pianist. So I didn’t start singing seriously until I got into writing and producing when I was 15.

How did where you grow up shape you as an artist today? Spending a part of my childhood in Europe (before coming to the US) during the electronic/dance music explosion that was happening there at that time definitely didn’t leave me untouched. I’m very big on real songs but have always gravitated towards dance/electronic sound. I feel like what I do today is a marriage of the two worlds.
Who have you worked with? I have collaborated with Kaskade, Avicii, Steve Aoki, Tiësto, Alex Gaudino, Felix Cartal, David Morales, Moguai and many others. And have written for Sean Kingston.

How did the Sean Kingston song come about? I was in a writing session with a NY writer, Duane Harden, one day and he played me 16 bars of a Sandy Vee track that later became Sean’s single ‘Sleep All Day (Party All Night).” The hook was written on the spot. A few months later my publisher (Ultra) called me to say that production team Stargate got attached and Sean Kingston was cutting the song. It went on to become No 8 in the UK.

The girls from Nervo went from behind the scenes to DJing. Would you ever consider becoming a DJ or just stick to singing? If my live show calls for DJing at some point I’ll be open to it. I think to be successful at anything though it has to come naturally.
Your latest track with Felix Cartal is getting some great reviews from around the net. How did this collaboration come about? Steve Aoki sent me Felix’s track (who is an artist on Dim Mak). I went into the studio next day, wrote and cut vocals for “Don’t Turn On The Lights” and it was done!

What was your scariest groupie moment? During a live show in France, someone grabbed me and tried to pull me off stage. I was wearing 6-inch heels on top of my 5’11″ frame and barely missed a long flight to the floor.